Analyse message reporting data

Message reporting allows you to track the performance of your message extensions. You can see general message details, such as the number of times that a message extension appeared with one of your ads, or the number of chats that people initiated with your business.

You’ll also be able to assess specific details related to each chat, such as the time to first response, number of messages, chat duration and the area code of the customer.

This article shows you how to see message data and explore the details of each chat. If you’re new to message reporting, start with About message reporting.

Before you begin

Message reporting uses Google forwarding numbers to track the performance of your message extensions and the customer chats (or conversations) that result from them. Google forwarding numbers are owned by Google and dynamically assigned to different advertisers and their ad groups. The phone number(s) associated with your ad groups may change over time. Google forwarding numbers with message reporting are currently available in the US, Australia, Canada, Brazil, France and the United Kingdom.

The "Chats", "Message Impr." and "Chat rate" columns report only events starting on and after 11 October 2018. Events that happened before 11 October 2018 aren't reported.

See message details by viewing predefined reports

Click the reporting icon at the top of the page. Select Predefined reports (formerly Dimensions), then Basic, and Message details. You’ll immediately see new columns and rows with your statistics.

To modify your report, click the hide rows and columns icon .

Remove rows and columns by clicking 'x'.

To save this report, click Save As near the top of the page.

Message details shown in your reporting columns

Here are types of data, with definitions, that you can find in your general message reports:

Message impressions shows the number of times your message extension showed with your ad and a Google forwarding number was used, allowing the chat to be trackable.

Chats shows how many times a person messaged your business as the result of a message impression that showed with a Google forwarding number. Each chat is made up of a series of messages exchanged between a person and your business.

Chat rate shows the number of people who initiated a conversation with your business after seeing your message extension. This is calculated by dividing the number of chats by the number of message impressions that showed with a Google forwarding number.

Available chat details

In addition to general message details, you can also get the following details about each chat:

Chat start time tells you when a chat was initiated between a person and your business.

Chat duration tells you how long a chat lasted between a person and your business.

Time to first response lets you know how long it took for your business to respond to someone’s first message.

User country code tells you where a person messaged you from, and could indicate an audience that you might want to target.

User area code tells you a more specific area within a country where a person messaged you from.

Messages tells you how many total messages were exchanged within a single chat.

Minimum message exchanges help you set when a chat becomes meaningful to your business.